Jose Ramirez's 2-run homer sends Guardians past Rays in AL opener

CLEVELAND — Jose Ramirez connected for a two-run homer, Shane Bieber dominated Tampa Bay for 7 2/3 innings and the young Cleveland Guardians played with poise in their postseason debut, beating the Rays 2-1 in the wild-card opener on Friday.

Ramirez's shot off Shane McClanahan in the sixth inning helped Cleveland end an eight-game postseason losing streak and left the club one win from advancing in its first season as the Guardians.

Bieber, rocked in his only other playoff appearance two years ago, allowed just three hits and struck out eight before being lifted with a runner on in the eighth.

Emmanuel Clase took it from there, getting four outs for his first postseason save and finishing a game that took just 2 hours, 17 minutes. Cleveland's closer led the majors with 42 saves in the regular season.

Jose Siri homered for the Rays, who dropped their sixth straight game overall and must win Game 2 on Saturday to force a decisive Game 3. The series winner plays the AL East champion New York Yankees in the Division Series starting Tuesday in the Bronx.

With 17 players making MLB debuts, the Guardians entered lacking playoff experience. However, Ramirez and Bieber have been here before, and both came through for the AL Central champions.

And the Guardians, who played «small ball» all season to win an unexpected division title, leaned on power for this win.

With Cleveland down 1-0 and running out of outs, Ramirez delivered — as usual.

Amed Rosario singled with one out in the sixth off McClanahan, and Ramirez, a four-time All-Star who finished second to Aaron Judge in RBI in the AL this season, drove a 1-1 changeup over the wall for just his second postseason homer in 97 at-bats.

As the red-towel waving fans in Progressive